U.s. Cancer Mortality Rates and Trends, 1950-1979, Vol. 4

Originally published by the NCI/EPA Interagency Agreement on Environmental Carcinogenesis in September, 1983, this series of books included a detailed list of rates for major cancers for every county in the United States covering the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. The basic information had been obtained from the state cancer registries and then compiled by researchers at the National Cancer Institute. Interestingly, the series had a very short lifespan; by the mid-1990s the US Government Printing Office was no longer publishing the book. By 2000 the series had become almost impossible to find anywhere. The data has a heavy computer quality about it--the values were printed using a Courier typeface, and instead of zeroes denoting zero rate (no cancers) there is only blank space. Additionally, counties showing no cancers for the three-decade time period simply don't show up on the list at all. On the positive side, the information found in this series is far more precise than even the NCI's recent 2000 Cancer Atlas. Mason and his colleagues listed cancer rates by decades while the NCI's 2000 effort includes only two categories: 1950-69 and 1970-94. Additionally the 1983 Rates and Trends includes columns showing percentage increase or decrease through the decades. Anyone wishing to study the possible relationship between cancer and any environmental agent should consider Mason's Rates and Trends series. Volume I: Cancer rates include: All cancers combined; lip; oral cavity and tongue; salivary gland; nasopharynx; esophagus; stomach; large intestine; rectum; liver and gallbladder. Volume II: Cancer rates include: Nose, nasal cavities, middle ear and accessory sinuses; larynx; trachea, bronchus and lung including pleura and other respiratory sites; bone, including jaw; connective and soft tissue cancer; malignant melanoma of skin; nonmelanoma skin cancer; breast; uterus; cervix uteri; ovary, fallopian tube and broad ligament; prostate; testes. Volume III: Cancer rates include: Eye; brain and other parts of the nervous system; thyroid gland; thymus and other endocrine glands; lymphosarcoma and reticulum cell sarcoma including other lymphoma; Hodgkin's disease; multiple myeloma; leukemias; secondary, site unspecified and not previously listed cancers. Volume IV: Cancer rates include: Pancreas; bladder and other urniary organs; kidney and ureter.